Bizview: Today's top business news

Asia-focused private equity firm MBK Partners has partnered with Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings to bid for the South Korean arm of British retailer Tesco, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Singapore-listed real estate and architecture company Rowsley is investing in a £200 million (S$400 million) project in Manchester. In an announcement filed to Singapore Exchange on Thursday, Rowsley said it will pay around £40 million to acquire a 75 per cent stake in the project named St Michael's.

Noble Group Ltd., the commodities trader facing criticism of its accounting methods, jumped by the most in three weeks to lead gains on Singapore's benchmark equity measure. Noble climbed 14 per cent to 51.5 Singapore cents at the close in the city-state, the biggest gain since Aug. 4 and the largest advance on the Straits Times Index, which rallied 2.5 per cent.

Net profit at Maybank, Malaysia's largest bank by assets, inched up 0.6 per cent to RM1.58 billion (S$521 million) for the three months to June 30, while net operating income rose 9.1 per cent.

OCBC Bank and its asset management subsidiary Lion Global Investors said Thursday that their first private-equity fund with outside investors was closed successfully after being upsized by almost 40 per cent to $550 million from $400 million fund on strong demand.

The Australian dollar hit record lows below parity against the Singapore currency on Thursday (Aug 27). The Aussie unit fell as low as 1.0049 to one Singdollar at 12.44am before recovering ground but still trading below parity with the local currency.

Indonesia on Thursday will unveil a policy package intended to prop up the rupiah, which hit another fresh 17-year low against the US dollar, and boost investment at a time Southeast Asia's largest economy faces its weakest growth in six years. Mr Darmin Nasution, the coordinating minister for economics, announced the package was coming after he met President Joko Widodo.